MARSHALL — A quote to replace the roofs on two Marshall parks buildings got some extra discussion Tuesday night — because the quote came from a city council member’s business.

Marshall City Attorney Pam Whitmore told council members that the city could approve the roughly $6,600 quote from James Lozinski Construction because the cost involved was below the threshold where competitive bidding was required.

Council members voted to award the contract, with James Lozinski abstaining.

The project would replace the roofs on two different buildings, said Marshall Parks and Recreation Superintendent Preston Stensrud.

“One is the main picnic shelter pavilion at Freedom Park, and at Independence Park it’s the storage building/warming house on the southwest side of the park, by the back parking lot,” Stensrud said. “Both roofs are deteriorating significantly, and a lot of the shakes are blown off.”

Stensrud said the parks department had $8,000 budgeted for building maintenance.

The city received quotes for the two park buildings from James Lozinski Construction, Strand Home Services, and Adelmann Construction, LLC. Stensrud said he had also talked to five contractors who did not provide quotes because they didn’t have time for the project.

Of the three sets of quotes for the roof replacements, Lozinski Construction had the low quotes. The total cost for both roof projects would come to $6,625, Stensrud said.

Whitmore said there were some special considerations the council would have to take regarding a quote from a council member’s business.

“This is a company that’s owned by a council member. Our state law has specific requirements on prohibitions against generally contracting with interested elected officials, because you’re making decisions on things that would benefit you or your company. But there are exceptions to that,” she said.

One exception would be if the contract did not need to be competitively bid. The cost of the park roofing projects fell below that threshold.

Whitmore said the city also needed an affidavit from Lozinski explaining his interest in the claim, which was included in the agenda packet for Tuesday’s city council meeting. Finally, there needed to be a unanimous vote to award the contract.

Lozinski abstained from the vote, and all four of the other council members present Tuesday voted to award the contract.